Customer Reviews

We're Only in It for the Money (Limited Edition Japanese Mini LP Sleeve CD)

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This isn't really a review so much as a response to Zappafreak's claim that this CD is censored. Having just listened to it, I can assure readers that this disc is identical to the original 1968 LP. I'm guessing that Zappafreak is referring to the omission of a few bits that were restored on the heavily remixed and overdubbed version of We're Only In It For The Money that was released in the '80s on a disc paired with Lumpy Gravy. While I agree that it would have been nice to hear these censored portions included (particularly in the album's original mix), I believe that MFSL's primary goal is to restore--to the best of their ability--the *original* album. Therefore, I think it's pretty unfair to accuse these guys of bastardizing Frank's work. In fact, this CD has the same content as the "FZ approved" edition that Ryko released in 1995. And say, I just noticed that the front cover of this version actually has all the black bars removed from the people's faces. How 'bout that?

As for the sound quality, MFSL did pretty good job given the source material. While there is still some noticeable distortion and fuzz here and there, the album certainly sounds crisper and cleaner than the current Ryko version. Whether or not it's worth the upgrade mainly depends on how much of an audiophile you are. The sound quality most likely won't blow you away, but I can't imagine this album sounding any better. I definitely won't be needing my old CD anymore.

Zappa's mocking attack of the "summer of love" and its adherents' bloated self-importance might seem dated to some (I still find it very funny), but the satire of "We're Only in it for the Money" isn't really the point. Its strength lies in Zappa's command in the studio and his ability to piece together a huge patchwork of sounds into one wonderfully varied 39-minute work.

The 1968 release was Zappa's answer to the Beatles' "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," which he lampoons on the cover. The Beatles' work had in turn been inspired by the Mothers' "Freak Out." Whatever the difference between "Money" and the Lennon and McCartney's work, though, the two albums share one similarity: they both surprise with sound. Zappa's work includes patches of melody played backward, spoken words, doo-wop, surf music, hard-edged guitar, and a note held at the end of the tone poem "The Chrome-Plated Megaphone of Destiny," which ends the album and provides Zappa's final comment to the closer of "Sergeant Pepper's," the then-spooky "Day in the Life."

The album nearly unrelentingly taunts the "flower power" generation, but its tones run deep. There is anger at the police, real insight into the gaps between parents and kids, and Zappa's ever-present love of plain absurdity. With the "Chrome-Plated Megaphone of Destiny," he reveals his orchestral sense and his willingness to challenge his audience with a thoroughly free work. Zappa never condescended to his audience.

Zappa's music was always a great leavening agent to the reigning pomposities of the day. "We're Only in it for the Money" sears with satire but also amazes with the sound of surprise.

How can a record be bad when it implores you to "Take our Clothes Off When You Dance" ? At the ripe young age of 12, this collection seemingly peeled back the protective skin on my forehead and injected my brain with the fresh breath of reality. It didn't just offend the hippies that thought they were the greatest thing since sliced bread - it attacked nearly every segment of 60's culture and asked us "Are You Hung Up"?

I think Frank Zappa was a very misunderstood artist, which relegated him to the status of a cult legend. But people are still listening and some are learning that he was one of the great musical geniouses of the last century. This disc might not be the most accessible place to start, but if you are looking to expand back into the early part of the catalog, you must find a place for this disc in your collection, if only to find different ways to look at yourself. As Frank said:

"What's the ugliest part of your body?
Some say your nose, some say your toes
But I think it's your mind."

We know he was a genius. Beneath all the arrogance and cynicisim. Past all the 6th grade bathroom humor. Beyond the anger - there was in Frank Zappa a heart which cared for his fellow man, and the soul of a musician.

I didn't know what to make of this album when I began listening to it in 1968, till I heard The Chrome-Plated Megaphone of Destiny at the end. To my mind, this is a musical masterpiece equal to the works of any great composer.

Zappa was complex and didn't make it easy to see the beauty in his work. Don't take the bait - keep a very open mind, listen with your heart, and this album will reward you time and time again.

I notice that some reviewers here are offended that Frank Zappa & the M.O.I. would dare mock the Beatles. I don't think the Beatles minded too much, why should fans? I would rather listen to this than Sgt. Pepper anyday, and I grew up on the Beatles [although this album and Magical Mystery Tour would be neck and neck for me].
Others try to be cute and dismiss Zappa as pretentious. Please, graduate from high school, people. Listen to the music, not your objections.
Musically, this is a solid record with quite a few beautiful cuts. It is one of the top albums of the rock era, certainly one of the best from that year. Try it. Wear headphones so you don't miss anything.

Finally, the album that disc jockeys dare not play in the late 60's has come to CD. Notorious when first released, several lyrics were bleeped or reversed or otherwise censored by the record company (MGM), to Frank's outrage. Check out the original vinyl release (if you can find a copy, they go for about 100 bucks a pop these days). The CD version restores all of these wonderfully subversive moments with improved sound quality. Frank takes perfect aim at the phony hippies, squares and corporate culture of the era. Plastic People. Ugh.

Don't be fooled by the post before me, this is in fact the same mix that is available in the States. Bill Whitely must be referring to the original '87 cd release of WOIIFTM. So don't pay some exorbitant amount expecting you're going to get an exciting completely different version of the album...like I did.

Is it Frank Zappa's masterpiece? A demented version of SGT. PEPPER? The greatest piece of rock 'n roll satire ever? Probably all of the above. The best elements of Zappa's music - his gift for melody and arrangement, his criticizing (but funny) lyrics, his unusual production tricks - are at their finest here. It's a "collage" record of songs and sounds and dialogue, and not a second is wasted. No two tracks sound alike, layered with altered voices and strange instrumental textures, but it all fits together in a coherent way. Zappa took aim at both the trendy hippie culture and the clueless older generation. This 60s subject matter might seem a bit dated, but the music sounds as fresh and innovative as ever. 'Who Needs the Peace Corps?', 'What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body?', 'Absolutely Free', 'Let's Make the Water Turn Black' and 'Idiot Bastard Son', to name a few, are some of his best-known songs. Zappa made some other excellent albums in this time frame, but none of them quite has the same sustained brilliance of this one. Zappaphiles can argue whether WOIIFTM is the "best" Zappa album, but there is little doubt that it's one of the essentials.

This is satire at it's most brilliant. The cover is Sargeant Pepper's turned inside out with the band members in drag so bad that Milton Berle would take note! The real funnies are the music. 2 tunes in particular. The Hippie culture commentary, "Who Needs The Peace Crops?" in which the character states " I'll stay a week and get the crabs and take a bus back home". Or How about "Hey punk where ya goin with that button on your shirt" 'I'm going to the Love-In to sit and play my bongos in the dirt". Very funny stuff. This is certainly one album I would recommend for anyone wanting to familiarize themselves to the music of Zappa.

Some dismiss him as a musical prankster. Those who do have never given his arrangements a serious listen. They are brilliant. At the core of his being was a frustrated modern day classical composer with a genius IQ. He couldn't get much of his more serious work recorded until he had gained some comercial success. He did that by thumbing his nose at just about everything. Pop music in particular and what he felt was the mindlessness of the general public. A sentiment that I share. Just look at the [stuff] that passes for entertainment on TV and radio. Oh yes. Zappa also produced some... and he wouldn't waste a minute to point out that by appealing the the lowest common denominator, he could make money.This was something Madonna perfected to an art. She was savy enough to know that sleaze would sell. It certainly would take more than a mediocre voice. Zappa held the music business in utter contempt. After a major legal battle with WEA, he financed his own label called Barking Pumkin Records. He pretty much had his own way for the rest of his career. Zappa not only thumbed his nose at society and the music biz, but also at many of his fans. On one tour, he was encouraging women in the audience to hurl their panties up on stage so he could make a quilt of the US. " Oh well. You'll go anywhere. You'll do anything. You'll even hand me your undies! Opps!Hope those weren't yours buddy" Another time, during the Vietnam war, he was playing the Whiskey A Go Go and there was a table of Marines seated in front He tossed a doll on their table, told them it was a "Gook baby" and to show off thier basic training. They obliged by ripping it and stomping it. He was always testing his audience and sometimes the results frightened him.

"Were Only In It For the Money" documents where we were as a nation in 1967. It doesn't really offer any solutions for it's times, but that is not the job of satire. The satirist only points out stupidity to shed light on it. If ole Frank were still with us, he'd be the first to tell us that the emperor still isn't wearing any clothes. Whether he be Democrat or Republican.

Literally. The Greatest Album In The History Of Music. I've listened to this so much I can replay the entire thing in my head and I know all the weird background noises and inside jokes and everything.

You probably know about the hippie-bashing on this album but it goes into much more than that: horrible parents, drinking, government, cops and of course boogers kept in jars. (And yes I'm serious.) Zappa and The M.O.I. weren't pro-war or against love. They we're against how the hippies spreading their message by not actually doing anything, just complaining and smoking pot.

Although some of it is humorous, there's always an underlying truth and creepiness to the message. Check out the harmony in "Concetration Moon", "Don't cry, gotta go bye-bye, suddenly die, die. Cop kill a creep. Pow, pow, pow!"

The album will sound like a mess at first especially with all the complex musicianship on it and weird noises and studio effects. Check it out with headphones to see what I mean. (You gotta listen to the absoulutely beautiful opening piano solo on "Absolutely Free") The album is literally filled with odd breaks in-between songs and during them that won't make sense at first but you get you realize the genius of it all like a non-stop symphony.

The songs are weird but catchy like "What's The Ugliest Part Of Your Body?" which is probably won't seem like a song you wouldn be humming for days if you just read the title.

Things to check out during the album:
-Eric Clapton's cameo on "Are You Hung Up?"
-The messed up take on "Hey Joe" on Flower Punk
-The surf music at the end of "Nasal Retentive Calliope Music" which is a song by The Rotations called "Heavies" which Frank produced early in the '60s and can be bought on the "Frank Zappa: Cucamonga" compilation.

Seriously, I was skeptic, too, after hearing about this album even after the first 1 or 2 listens you probably won't really dig it but it is DEFINITELY worth it. You'll be saying you're the "Indian Of The Group" after a while.